Questions and Answers

Honda Prelude Dual Carburetors

Q. Hello Vince, I was wondering if I could request your assistance in this matter regarding my 1984 dual-carburetor, 16-valve, automatic-transmission Honda Prelude. I purchased this vehicle about 1 month ago and it seemed to be running fine; I did notice that, at times, there was a smell of gasoline coming from the vehicle when I parked and sometimes when I pressed on the accelerator, it would hold back. About 3 days ago, the vehicle would not stay on... even though the engine turned over strongly. I had a friend (who also previously owned the same type vehicle) look the car over and we proceeded with the basic tune-up (i.e., change plugs, wires, cap/rotor, air filter). Ignition system was diagnosed as being fine, but when he took the top off the case assembly that holds the air filter he noticed that gasoline was shooting out of one of the short protruding metal "pipe-like" holes within this assembly. He proceeded to change the hoses within and outside of this general area and, even though the car did start, the gasoline did still come out of this area. Now, my question is do you know as to what might be some of the causes for the gasoline coming out into the air filter area from these holes. I really appreciate your expertise in this matter and thank you for your time and consideration.

Have a nice day,
Victor

P.S., the mileage is approximately 95,000 and the engine size is 1.8 liter (16-valve)

A. Dual carburetors... the very thought sends shivers down my spine. If I remember correctly, that has dual Hatchi carburetors. They were nightmares even when they worked.

Two things come to mind for this problem, one is a bad float and the other is a bad Air Vent Cut-off Solenoid. There is a fuel crossover pipe that connects the two carburetors, so if one float is sunk, it will allow fuel to pump in and it would come out both vent holes. The AVCV is computer controlled and will cause fuel to spill over if it malfunctions.

If it is the floats, then you're looking at a rebuild of replacement. If you get them rebuilt, try amd find someone who has some experience rebuilding them to make sure it's done right. They are very tricky and even rebuilding them may not fix them. And now for the bad news, new carburetors for that car are about $1100.00 each.

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